Ups N Downs Coaching

June is mens mental health month

I wasn’t supposed to still be here, in 2018 there was a moment — a real one — where the darkness nearly won. Where the weight on my chest felt heavier than any barbell, and the idea of giving everything away felt easier than taking one more breath.

But something inside me refused to die.
A spark. A flicker. A stubborn ember that said, Not yet.

That ember became the Phoenix in my brand — the symbol of the man I chose to become.

My health story isn’t a straight line. It’s a battlefield.
I’ve fought depression, self‑doubt, broken confidence, and the kind of days where getting out of bed felt like a marathon. But every time I fell, I rose. Every time the darkness closed in, I found a way to push back.

And I didn’t do it alone.

Teams like .dozen , , , — they didn’t just support me. They reminded me that I could be more than my past, more than my scars, more than the version of myself that almost didn’t make it.

They helped this Phoenix rise.

I still have dark days.
But now they last a day — not a season.
Because I’ve built a purpose, a platform, and a mission bigger than me.

My health story is simple:
I fell.
I broke.
I nearly gave everything away.
But I rose — and now I help others rise too.

Thankyou to the awesome members at the .dozen.gym tonight their hard work and commitment tonight. .dozen.gym .uk

From the kid who hated PE…
to the coach running wild hybrid chaos across Manchester.

Turns out it wasn’t movement I hated —
it was being told how to move.
Now I coach the way I wish someone coached me:
with fire, purpose, grit, and zero PE‑teacher energy.

Hybrid events?
Because they’re the perfect storm —
strength, lungs, grit, and a bit of madness.
Exactly where a Feral Phoenix belongs.

Rise. Burn. Rebuild. Repeat.
Manchester, let’s get feral.

There’s a point in training where the question stops being “Can I do this?”
and becomes “Why does this matter?”

For me, that answer came from watching athletes who rise through challenges I will never face — Paralympians and Special Olympians who train with a level of courage that makes the rest of us rethink what strength even means.

They don’t rise because it’s easy.
They rise because it matters.

So on 2nd August, I’m stepping into something brutal:
the Deadly Dozen GROSS —
12 full rounds of the Deadly Dozen in 12 hours.

57.6km of running.
Thousands of reps.
Carries. Crawls. Lifts. Lunges.
A full day of burning, breaking, rebuilding, and burning again.

There will be moments where my legs stop listening.
Moments where my lungs feel like they’re full of smoke.
Moments where the Phoenix in my chest flickers.

But that’s the point.

Because the athletes I’m raising money for don’t get to tap out when life gets heavy.
They don’t get to choose the easy path.
They rise anyway — again and again — with fire in their eyes.

If they can rise,
I can rise.
If they can fight,
I can suffer with purpose



dozen.gym .uk

https://www.justgiving.com/page/upsndownsdeadlydozen12in12?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_transactional_—_donation_received_—_first_donation